Joe McGinnity
| Joe McGinnity | |
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| Pitcher | |
| Born: March 20, 1871 Cornwall Township, Illinois |
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| Died: November 14, 1929 (aged 58) Brooklyn, New York |
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| Batted: Right | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| April 18, 1899 for the Baltimore Orioles | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| October 5, 1908 for the New York Giants | |
| Career statistics | |
| Win-Loss record | 246–142 |
| Earned run average | 2.66 |
| Strikeouts | 1068 |
| Teams | |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Member of the National | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame |
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| Induction | 1946 |
| Election Method | Veteran's Committee |
Joseph Jerome McGinnity (March 20, 1871 – November 14, 1929), nicknamed Iron Man, was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball at the turn of the 20th century. Born in Cornwall Township, Henry County, Illinois, he reached the majors in 1899. After a 10-year major league career he continued to pitch in the minor leagues, eventually bowing out of baseball for good at the age of 54, having amassed 453 wins as a professional ballplayer. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946.
McGinnity had a somewhat brief (especially for a Hall of Famer) but effective big league career. In his first year in the majors in 1899, he went 28–16 with the Baltimore Orioles with a 2.68 ERA. McGinnity bounced around with several teams, including the Brooklyn Superbas (1900) and the American League's Baltimore Orioles (1901–1902), before settling in with the New York Giants at the end of the 1902 season.
His success wasn't affected by the constant shifts, however, as he posted a 28–8 record for Brooklyn in 1900 and led them to the National League pennant. His best personal year came in 1904, when he went 35–8 with 144 strikeouts and a 1.61 ERA. In 1905, he won his second National League pennant and first and only World Series championship. He left major league ball after the 1908 season, after 10 years, having amassed 246 wins, 142 losses, 1,068 strikeouts and a 2.66 ERA. As a batter, McGinnity had 1,297 at-bats, hitting a respectable (for a pitcher) .194, although never hitting a home run.
McGinnity was perhaps best known for starting both ends of a doubleheader in 1903, a feat which he performed three times in a single month (he won all six games). He acquired his nickname, "Iron Man," before his doubleheader pitching. According to Lee Allen in The National League Story (1961), a reporter asked Joe, then a minor-league pitcher, what he did in between seasons. "I'm an iron man," he answered. "I work in a foundry."
McGinnity was elected posthumously to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1946. In 1981, Lawrence Ritter and Donald Honig included him in their book The 100 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.
In an article in 1976 in Esquire magazine, sportswriter Harry Stein published an "All Time All-Star Argument Starter," consisting of five ethnic baseball teams. Because of space limitations the Irish team, including McGinnity as right-handed pitcher, was omitted.
Joe "Iron Man" McGinnity is buried in Oak Hill Memorial Park in McAlester, Oklahoma. In 2009, Don Doxsie wrote Iron Man McGinnity: A Baseball Biography.
[edit] See also
- List of Major League Baseball leaders in career wins
- List of Major League Baseball ERA champions
- List of Major League Baseball saves champions
- List of Major League Baseball wins champions
- MLB All-Time Hit Batsmen List
- Major League Baseball titles leaders
[edit] External links
- Joe McGinnity at the Baseball Hall of Fame
- Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube
- Joe McGinnity at Find a Grave
| Preceded by Kid Nichols Jack Chesbro Christy Mathewson |
National League Wins Champion 1899–1900 (1899 with Jay Hughes) 1903–1904 1906 |
Succeeded by Bill Donovan Christy Mathewson Christy Mathewson |
| Preceded by Sam Leever |
National League ERA Champion 1904 |
Succeeded by Christy Mathewson |
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- 1871 births
- 1929 deaths
- People from Henry County, Illinois
- American people of Irish descent
- National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
- Baltimore Orioles (NL) players
- Baltimore Orioles (1901–1902) players
- Brooklyn Superbas players
- New York Giants (NL) players
- Major League Baseball pitchers
- Baseball players from Illinois
- National League ERA champions
- National League wins champions
- Major League Baseball coaches
- Brooklyn Dodgers coaches
- Newark Indians players
- Tacoma Tigers players
- Venice Tigers players
- Danville Veterans players
- Springfield Senators players
